Last year, we introduced linking publication metadata to associated data and software when registering publisher content with Crossref Linking Publications to Data and Software. This blog post follows the “whats” and “whys” with the all-important “how(s)” for depositing data and software citations. We have made the process simple and fairly straightforward: publishers deposit data & software links by adding them directly into the standard metadata deposit via relation type and/or references. This is part of the existing content registration process and requires no new workflows.

TL;DR

Recently we announced that we were making some new recommendations in our DOI display guidelines. One of them was to use the secure HTTPS protocol to link Crossref DOIs, instead of the insecure HTTP.

Some people asked whether the move to HTTPS might affect their ability to measure referrals (i.e. where the people who visit your site come from).

TL;DR: Yes

Yes. If you do not move your DOI links to HTTPS, Crossref, its members and the members of other DOI registration agencies (e.g. DataCite, JLC, CNKI) will find it increasingly difficult to accurately measure referrals. You should link DOIs using HTTPS.

We began accepting preprints as a new content type last month (in a category known as “posted content” in our XML schema). Over 1,000 records have already been registered in the first few weeks since we launched the service.

As a follow-up to our blog posts on the Crossref REST API we talked to SHARE about the work they’re doing, and how they’re employing the Crossref metadata as a piece of the puzzle. Cynthia Hudson-Vitale from SHARE explains in more detail…

Crossref was founded to enable collaboration between publishers. As our membership has grown and diversified over recent years, it’s becoming even more vital that we take input from a representative cross-section of the membership. This is especially important when considering how fees and policies will affect our diverse members in different ways.

Crossref LIVE16 opened with a Mashup Day on 1st November 2016 in London. Attendees from the scholarly communications world met to chat with Crossref team members in an open house atmosphere. The Crossref team put their latest projects on display and were met with questions, comments, and ideas from members and other metadata folks. Here’s what it looked like — you may recognize a few familiar faces.

As the linking hub for scholarly content, it’s our job to tame URLs and put in their place something better. Why? Most URLs suffer from link rot and can be created, deleted or changed at any time. And that’s a problem if you’re trying to cite them.

We’re excited to say that we’ve finished the work on our infrastructure to allow members to register preprints. Want to know why we’re doing this? Jennifer Lin explains the rationale in detailin an earlier post, but in short we want to help make sure that:

links to these publications persist over time

they are connected to the full history of the shared research results

the citation record is clear and up-to-date

Doing so will help fully integrate preprint publications into the formal scholarly record.